Quirky animal photo exhibit gives encore

Changes are afoot at Angkor Photo Café-Gallery. This week sees the launch of the venue’s third exhibition since its opening back in March. The award-winning show Animalies by Krzysztof Wladyk will launch at the gallery on Saturday night, June 23.

A quirky collection of artistically edited pictures, it was part of the Angkor Photo Festival last year and gallery owner, Tomás Ordinas, thinks it deserves a second airing.

“It’s beautiful, really beautiful.” says Tomás. “He’s a really well-recognised photographer all over the world. The pictures are numerated, so they’re very exclusive, framed and the quality is amazing.”

Tomás says Wladyka is giving 50 per cent of the profits from the exhibition to Anjali House.

The images of animals, taken at Wrolaw Zoo in Wladyka’s native Poland are manipulated to show the creatures in unlikely settings. The result is eerie, jarring images that are actually rather stunning. “They’re really cool,” says Tomás. “It’s very, very well done, they make a really big impact.”

The river side café-gallery is swiftly becoming known for its party atmosphere, and tomorrow night’s launch will be no different, with everyone welcome on the night to quaff some drinks and take in the pictures.

Along with his photographic patronage, Tomás has been continuing the party vibe with something altogether different. The venue is set to become something of a home for salsa in Siem Reap. Following the success of various salsa nights organised by Ti Sam as she was passing through Temple Town earlier this year, expats have been calling on someone to fill the gap.

“I like this music but I never used to listen to it,” explains Spaniard Tomás. “But on the request of the people here, I decided to do the salsa party and I was impressed, a lot of people came.”

Now the arrival of teacher Hassan Ghiassi will see the salsa parties become a regular affair. “He’s going to be here for five months so I think it’s enough time for the people to learn some and I’ll probably do it every week,” says Tomás.

“We’ll have a workshop - about an hour and a half or two hour class - and after the class, the party will continue. They can practise what they learned.”

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